prosecutes 156 companies for forgery

The Federal Government is currently prosecuting 156 companies for tendering forged procurement documents, while bidding for contracts.

The Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a forum with contractors, consultants and service providers to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government.

The forum, organised by the BPP, was held in order to provide an update on the implementation of the reform in the public procurement system, explain the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 as they affect contractors as well as enhance the implementation of the 2014 federal budget.

Ezeh did not disclose the identities of the companies being prosecuted, but noted that 80 per cent of the contractors that did business with the government were involved in fraudulent activities.

The director-general said rather than ensure that the country got value for money in the execution of government contracts, majority of the contractors in their insatiable desire to bid for higher paying contracts, preferred to submit fake procurement documents.

He said, “A lot of contractors, especially 80 per cent of the local ones, are notorious for submitting fake documents when biding for contracts.

“We see all manner of fake documents such as false tax clearance certificate, PenCom Certificate of Compliance, false claim of personnel, false audited accounts and use of fake addresses and submission of fake bank statements.

“Currently, there are 156 companies being prosecuted because of this. There is not enough space in our prisons to accommodate all these fraudulent activities by contractors; so, this has to change.”

To address the issue of fraud in procurement process, Ezeh said the Federal Government had come up with a database that would assist in the fight against corruption.

This, according to him, is in line with the transformation agenda and government’s move to institutionalise procurement reforms.

He added that the move would also lead to transparency, competition, accountability and value for money in public procurement.

The BPP boss said, “We started the registration of all contractors, consultants and service providers in the country as part of BPP’s drive to reform the public procurement system for better monitoring and oversight of public procurement processes in the country.

“As of April 24, 2014; 1,495 companies have started the registration process. Out of that number, only 158 have completed their registration.

“By mid-June this year, any company that is not completely registered on our database cannot do business with any government MDA.”